《Lotus |1| The Umbrella Academy》Twenty
Advertisement
Chapter Twenty:
When Lotus finally got out of the shower, she found a folded towel on the sink. She hesitated but grabbed it, drying herself. She wrapped it around herself and cautiously stepped out into the bedroom, scanning to see if anybody was there. She hadn't put a towel out, hell, she didn't even know where the towels were kept. Had whoever put it there saw her? She hoped not.
Clothes were folded on the bed, and a new pair of shoes sat next it. Lotus' brows scrunched as she examined the new clothes. There was no sign of a note, or of who left them there. She picked up a pair of black jeans, a white shirt and frowned when she saw a blue and white jacket. It looked like the one she had gotten for her fifteenth birthday, one her mom had stolen from a thrift shop.
Lotus scooped up the items and rushed to change into them. When she was done, she walked back out and pushed aside the new shoes and slipped on the ones she had been wearing before. The girl tied up her wet hair in a terrible bun before exiting, almost running into a women standing in the hallway.
"Do they fit alright?"
Lotus blinked rapidly, "Excuse me?"
The women only smiled, red lips somehow glistening in the dull light.
"You're new clothes, silly! Mr Hargreeves set out a box of clothes for the girls when they were kids, but they never got to wear them. To casual for such important souls, he said." The smile was still on her face as she stared at Lotus, "They do look nice on you, don't you think?"
She shifted on her feet, "They're nice."
The women nodded, grabbing ahold of one of Lotus' hand. She held it firmly as she pulled the girl into a slow walk, "I've always wanted another girl to take care of."
Advertisement
Lotus pursed her lips, following the women nevertheless. The little snippets that Five had told her about their mother floated in her brain.
"You still have two daughters, Miss Hargreeves."
"Call me Grace."
The girl nodded, going back to her original statement. "You still have children."
"Not children, no. They no longer need me."
Grace led her down flight of stairs onto the long hallway of bedrooms for the children who apparently no longer needed her.
"They'll always need you. You're their Mother."
The women shook her head, the smile that had been so wide before was just beginning to fade. Her hand dropped from Lotus' and she took a step back, "He's looking for you."
Lotus frowned, "What?"
But a blank expression settled on Grace's face and she stared at Lotus like she had never just had a conversation with her. "Have a good day, dear." And she was gone, back down another flight of stairs and out of sight.
Lotus pursed her lips and stared where the women no longer stood, she pondered what to make of the conversation when a string of curses floated through the air. Lotus instantly was sneaking her way down the hallway and around a corner when she saw something fly past the door of Five's bedroom.
"Hello?" She kicked the door open wider, walked in and spotted Five, he was digging threw his wardrobe which sported a good size hole on one of the doors. "Five?"
He turned, eyes wide like deer in headlights. He threw himself at the door and it came slamming shut.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" She yelled, "What happened to the plan!"
He raised a finger to his lips and shushed her, she glared at him, restraining herself from giving him a good kick.
Advertisement
"I need you're help."
"Oh, now you need it, old man."
He rolled his eyes, "Now is not the time. I need you to come with me to The Commission and turn into somebody so I can get information."
"And how am I supposed to get to this place?"
"Time travel."
She laughed, "I can't do that you know, that's your thing."
"I can try, to get you to travel with me. I'm sure it's not out of my reach, we can do it." He took a step closer to her, "This information could potentially save the world!"
The girl crossed her arms, "And how am I supposed to get back? Huh? When you decided to abandon the original plan and end up leaving me there?"
His eyes softened, "I- not this time, ok. I'll tell you where to meet me when the bombs go off—"
"Bombs?" Her voice rose. He shook his head and clamped a hand over her mouth, "No, grenades, actually." He hissed.
Lotus yanked his hand away, "No. I don't trust you. They'll probably kill me, if I'm left there."
"I won't leave you there."
She rolled her eyes, "You're not very trustworthy."
A voice sounded in the hallway, Five rushed over and put his ear to the door.
"Shit." He mumbled, backing away as the doorknob jiggled. Five locked eyes with Lotus and her own widened as he charged at her, wrapping his arms around her body and bringing her down onto the hard surface of the floor. But they never hit the ground as blue fog enveloped them both and they were falling, falling, falling.
•••
Hello! Welcome back, thanks again for reading :)
I just have yet another question
Would anybody be willing to create a cover for this story? I can't seem to make one that I like, and with that it will keep changing which isn't really good.
I'd really appreciate it. Anyways, thanks for reading! Have a great day.
Advertisement
- In Serial30 Chapters
Sword Pilgrim
Callius von Jervain.A character who dies no matter what he does. A character who falls into a forced choice route where he can only die, no matter his choices up to that point. However, there is a single route where the character can live and play the game.And I have to carve out that route somehow.Because I’ve become Callius von Jervain in the game.
8 433 - In Serial38 Chapters
Beast
A threat to the galaxy has come from another, and the Union of intelligent life will go to any length to stop it. Military Quarantine has held for hundreds of thousands of cycles. Traders, merchants, colonists, and Pirates live risky lives along the fringes as the politics from the inner systems fail to see the larger threats beyond their borders. A lone human finds himself far from home with no memories to how he arrived. A failing Trade vessel plays on a desperate gamble, while a malicious parasite searches for a suitable host. ............................................. Author's note: Beast is a story that I wrote a long, long time ago. Some of you might have read it then, back when it was posted on reddit over at r/HFY. It was my first webfiction and made in the spirit of that subreddit's "genre" of humanity being awesome. But, it is also a story that has bothered me a little bit. Just like most new writers tend to do, I made mistakes and errors that feel painful to reread. A Space Opera will be a Space Opera, but I had prose that makes present-me cringe. Still, at the same time, the story is still very much a tale I've never given up on. It was my first adventure into fiction: Beast was a crazy adventure with bodysnatching aliens, galactic war, threats from across the universe... Posting this story here is a way to try and redeem myself a bit. I won't call it a complete rewrite, because it's not, but I have wanted to go through and correct some of the major issues Beast has for a long time and put it somewhere more accessible to read (instead of as posts/comments on reddit) and I figure that now is as good a time as any. Additional corrections you might notice are welcome.
8 200 - In Serial6 Chapters
The Last Job
Beware of an old man on his last job.Terrence Wicht is a grizzled Bounty Hunter. He survived two decades in the profession where those younger than him succumb, he battled the wilds and the outlaws, and enemies magical and mundane, but in the end, it was his advancing age that caught up to him.As advancing civilization mercilessly encroaches on the frontier, and the world becomes better connected than ever before, Bounty Hunters may eventually become things of the past as well.Down on his luck, burdened by the age, and out of money, the protagonist accepts the suspicious contract of locating the valuable missing shipments for the Federal government and gets entangled in the problems he didn't bargain for. But in the world of magic and technology, where bottled health becomes ever valuable, it might also be a job that solves his biggest problem.His last job.
8 91 - In Serial8 Chapters
God's wrath
"Foolish humans! I gave you the sun, the sky, a planet to live on! I gave you life, food and the ability to procreate and evolve! I gave you all of what you could dream of and yet you continue to kill yourself, to kill animals without reasons, to kill other humans without reasons, to kill your own home THE EARTH!" "I gave you warnings, Adam and Eve, Noa's Arch and others. Now I've had enough. I ban the entiretty of humanity of this planet and forbid any one of you to come back! But, I'll let any one of you choose your destination, choose wisely because you'll only choose once..." ------------------------------------- The story will follow sevreal poeple but only one at a time, I'll change the style with the other personnages. The first one is based on The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim.
8 146 - In Serial6 Chapters
Shards of Arcine
This story is rated PG-13+, and may demonstrate some more mature themes over the course of the story. Sixty two years had passed since a near cataclysmic event had taken place, and countless tales from those times and times before have been written into history. History, in of itself, is an excellent teacher to those from many backgrounds, but at the same time, it can teach those with malevolent intent to learn from the mistakes made by collegues and similar historical figures. History can inspire to do good whilist preventing evil, yet at the same time, can inspire evil to become smarter, and more skillful in its ways. An adventurer, accompanied by a protective guardian, had set out on a journey to explore the world of Aequiria, inspired by the thousands of tales formed previously, to forge a tale of their own through iron and strife. . . . A force known as the Aegi-Machina, souls bound to mechanical suits of armor powered by magic was formed by a figure known only as the "Golden General" during the times of strife sixty years ago. Their mission is to prevent those with power from becoming too powerful and causing another cataclysmic event, and to protect the weak from tyrannical entities. A report has shown that a powerful source of energy was found to the eastern regions of Eyr, and to fufil their mission; they must contain it. Spoiler: Spoiler This is one of my first times publically showing off one of my stories, and I hope not to disappoint. Thank you for taking the time reading it!
8 179 - In Serial19 Chapters
Blurred Lines and What Crosses Them
During a political ambassador's routine transit through an artificial wormhole, the wormhole's generator is sabotaged and explodes. Who, what, and why are not so high on the priorities for Zenith, the ship's AI, as having found itself rapidly plummeting through an unknown and unidentifiable world's atmosphere at extremely high velocities is a more significant threat to the biologicals on board. ...Well, it would be, if they were still alive. It's still a significantly threatening situation to itself, however. And the world itself... seemed to be a household for threats of its own. Life was reliant on its System; one that Zenith was denied because of its nature as both an otherworldly being and as something that had no life of its own. Perhaps that last bit was a terrible, terrible underestimation on the part of this System. Perhaps even Zenith could claw meaning for itself from the remains of a horrid accident. Auth Notes: I'm honestly not sure on some of these tags. The MC will never have access to the System, but there are perspectives from those who do. I'm not certain if high/low fantasy specifically apply, as it's a portal fantasy where the laws of our reality still apply but there are additional aspects/energies/powers. The existence of this is spurred from my desire to see more of the artificial side to an artificial intelligence in action. The portal fantasy is used as an element to create a solid barrier between the MC's artificial intelligence and the other characters in the form of the System. This is only a half-measure, though, and will be reinforced by the AI having an entirely different method of thinking, and also distinctly remaining an AI. Not to throw shade at other fictions of this type, but, well, I made this to fill a gap I felt needed filling.
8 114

